Arkansas Children’s Innovation to Host ‘Hackathon’ Competition

Arkansas Children’s Innovation Center is partnering with Arkansas entrepreneurial support organizations to present a 48-hour digital health competition, or ‘hackathon,’ supporting Arkansas Children’s mission to improve the health and well-being of children in Arkansas and beyond.

For participating teams, Arkansas Children’s will be presenting a curated and vetted list of problems and challenges faced by their organization that lend themselves to the creation of digital solutions. Over the course of 48 hours – noon on January 21, 2022 to noon on January 23, 2022 – teams will work together to begin building solutions for the ACH problem or challenge of their choice.

“Arkansas Children’s is committed to improving child health through innovation,” said Dr. Rick Barr, chief clinical and academic officer for Arkansas Children’s. “This type of event creates an exciting challenge for software developers across the state to build solutions that will positively impact pediatric healthcare.”

The hackathon event is a collaborative effort with Arkansas Children’s, Cartwheel Startup Studio, Startup Junkie Consulting, HealthTech Arkansas and the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.

“The differentiating factor for our hackathon participants is they’re working on validated user problems and they have the interest of Arkansas Children’s to pilot the solutions that are built,” said Joshua Stanley, managing partner at Cartwheel Startup Studio. “That’s a big advantage for participants, and it’s why our organization is excited to partner with Arkansas Children’s in this project.”

At noon on Sunday, Jan. 23, each team will present their solution to a judging panel comprised of ACH executives, investors, and ESO leaders. The winning team will receive a $10,000 cash prize. Additionally, Cartwheel will be selecting one team – either the same team that wins the cash prize or a different one – for inclusion in their startup studio in which high-level resources will be applied to launch an impactful startup.

The hackathon will take place in person at the U of A Collaborative at 700 SE 5th Street in Bentonville.

Participants can look forward to:

• Working alongside and collaborating with Arkansas Children’s to build solutions for real problems experienced by their organization

• Network-building with the four administering organizations and corporate sponsors

• A $10,000 grand prize award

• Selection of one team for admission into a Cartwheel Startup Studio guided program to continue making progress on the startup venture

• The ability to form a startup with a built-in pilot site at ACH and a potential large, first customer with ACH

• Retention of intellectual property ownership by the teams who created it

• Pizza!

Applications for participation are now open. Interested parties can apply either as an individual or as part of a team. The application deadline is midnight, Dec. 31, 2021.

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